Bank of Stockton Buys 1,159 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Bank of Stockton raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 9.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,159 shares during the quarter. Bank of Stockton’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 135,371,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,051,096,000 after purchasing an additional 502,776 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% in the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $564,869,000 after purchasing an additional 43,437 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,312,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $528,523,000 after purchasing an additional 94,841 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,376,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,364,000 after acquiring an additional 325,374 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,478,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,295,000 after acquiring an additional 271,078 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens upped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.72.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Down 0.2 %

USB traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,037,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,330,845. The company has a market capitalization of $75.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $30.47 and a twelve month high of $50.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.81.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.55% and a return on equity of 13.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.23%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Company Profile

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional organizations, governmental entities, and other financial institutions in the United States. It operates through Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking; Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; and Treasury and Corporate Support segments.